No Returns or Exchanges
by Nhyllian
Summary: Jesse Custer was an excellent fighter. Cassidy had never seen him lose a fight, much less end up gravely injured. But he guessed everyone had their bad days. Now Jesse needed to make a choice - to die as a human or live as something else. Slight AU, major character death, vampirism and slash undertones in the first chapter Very much a WIP and actively seeking constructive criticism


Welcolme to my first published work on this site. I hope to turn this into a full length project at some point, for now this is my editted first draft.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Preacher or any of the characters. This is written for entertainment purposes only.

Cassidy spun on the one remaining hunter, smashing his nose and cheekbone in with a sharp punch to his thin face. They never sent their best fighters, or perhaps he had gone through their ranks and this was what was left. He sat on the smaller man's chest and used his strength to crush his windpipe. 'I should bite him just to piss him off. An affront to God, my ass.' Cassidy bared his teeth as the young man died underneath him and stood up, looking around to assess the damage. "Oy, padre. Where'd you go? We've got a mess to clean up." He looked around the church, it was in shambles half the pews were busted apart in the fight, the others either covered in blood or gore. A little thread of panic worked its way up his spine. Jesse was an excellent fighter, this group of hunters had been weak yet Cassidy couldn't find him. He took a deep breath to smell and taste the blood heavy in the air and caught Jesse's scent. "Jesse?" Cassidy looked harder at the floor, inspecting each body until he heard a groan near the altar. When he looked he saw the black sleeve of Jesse's coat and the too pale hand of the preacher. During the fight, Jesse had fallen under one hunter behind the stand. Cass sighed with relief, he'd probably been knocked out and was coming around now, he thought. He approached and knelt down, heaving the dead hunter off of Jesse and stopped when he saw the preacher.

They must have gotten to him as he had come in from the kitchen, there were two throwing knives embedded in his flesh. The worst of which was near his neck on the left. The blade had sunk deep into the muscle there and the second was in his ribs on the same side. Cassidy put his hand on Jesse's face, looking into his eyes and Jesse came to. Jesse's brown eyes focused on him and he sucked in a breath a little too sharply. He coughed roughly and the blade in his side shifted, more blood splashed on the floor and Cassidy winced. "Shite, padre. You're hurt bad this time… Where's that sewing kit? I need to patch you up and get you out to the hospital."

"Cass… there's no time." Jesse had a hard look in his eyes, his brows were knitted together, his color was pale and he was still losing blood. Cassidy figured they had about two minutes before the blood loss was too much and it looked like Jesse knew it. "You said you were a vampire. I didn't believe it at first but I do now. I need you to – shit, I need you to bite me. I'm not ready to die." Not when I have this power." His voice broke on the last word and he looked away, ashamed. Cassidy's face was set in stone, he had been called an abomination by Jesse, doubted. But Jesse had also put him out when he had burned to prove it and he liked Jesse. His thoughts were interrupted by the rattling wheeze of Jesse's breathing. He'd have to act quickly so he tilted Jesse's face up so he could look him in the eyes and say "Once you do this, there's no goin' back padre. Are you sure?" He looked into Jesse's eyes again, staring him down. He could feel Jesse's pulse under his palm, it was thready and quick and his skin was almost as pale as Cass'. Jesse nodded once and closed his eyes, Cassidy felt a growl build deep in his chest as he leaned forward. He held Jesse's chin with the hand that was already on his face and used his other to rip the knife out of Jesse's shoulder a second before he sealed his mouth around the wound and bit down to pierce the flesh. He settled himself over Jesse, using his body weight and strength to hold the preacher down and he drank deeply. There wasn't a whole lot left, enough to heal his more superficial wounds. Once he felt Jesse's pulse stop completely he sat up with a sharp intake of breath, wiping his chin off with the tattered remains of his shirt and stood.

Cassidy looked down at Jesse and sighed, "Well, Padre. Let's get you and this place cleaned up." He removed the knife that was still in Jesse's side, dragged him behind the altar and covered him with a thick felt blanket he found in the closet before getting to work. He had until sunset to dispose of the hunters and set up for their departure. He knew they couldn't stay in Annville, the population was too small and too many people knew Jesse. Suddenly being unable to enter the sunlight and looking awfully pale was a sure fire way to end up dead.

Cassidy kept one of the men back and used the pews to burn the rest. He buried them as deep as he could beside the church. Six men in total, one of the bastards had killed his best friend and made Jesse make the choice that he did. He knew even if Jesse had said no, he would have changed him anyway. Jesse could always change his mind, but death by sunlight seemed a lot more painful than blood loss. He supposed it didn't matter now, Jesse had chosen yes and now he needed to get them out of this town. Jesse was a better person than he was, at least Cassidy thought so. He was violent when he had to be but Cass didn't know how Jesse was going to react to the hunger. They had never discussed his 'condition' in detail and Jesse didn't seem to be the type to read fiction. They were going to need a hunting ground.

Cassidy finished covering the bodies as the final rays of sunlight sunk below the horizon. He chucked off the poncho and hat once it was safe took a deep breath, dusting his hands off on his filthy jeans and running them through his hair. Jesse would be waking up soon, and he'd be hungry. He headed back inside the church and looked around one last time. Even though it was dark he could still see the sorry state of it. Blood was now dried into the old, dark wood of the floor. Most of the pews were missing and there was a body of a hunter propped up in one. Cass had left several bottles of whiskey around his feet. One in his hand, half full and the other hand had a cigarette. Cassidy was banking on the small town fleet of cops being too stupid and technologically challenged to do proper investigating. That and most of the town still doubted Jesse, the paper would sensationalize it – 'Drunk Preacher Dies in Own Church, Burned to Death' and that'd be it. The end of Jesse Custer in this little town.

Cass looked at the altar again, glaring at the cross. His eyes fell to the altar and then he noticed the blanket had been thrown off to the side and Jesse was missing. "Shite," Cassidy muttered, raking his eyes around the building again. Jesse must have gotten up right at sunset but he hadn't left yet. Cassidy listened for movement but it didn't give him enough time to react when Jesse jumped from the rafters onto his back. "Jesus Christ Jesse ge' off!" Cassidy thrashed, bucking Jesse off of him and turned himself over but Jesse was already back on top of him. The preacher had a feral look in his eyes, his teeth bared and the longer canine's glinted in the dim light. They grappled together for a while, Jesse grabbing at Cassidy's collar and arms while Cassidy used the palm of his hand to shove Jesse's face away from his neck. Cassidy growled at him, "Stop it, Jesse. Get a hold of yourself, Padre!" He tightened the grip on Jesse's neck, pushing him further away.

All at once the wind left Jesse's sails and he relaxed, slumping against Cassidy's hands. Once Cassidy let go, Jesse rested his head against Cass' shoulder and they stayed like that for a while. Cassidy reached up and pat Jesse's back, rubbing his shoulder then letting his hand rest there until Jesse sat up. They looked at each other for a little while longer before Jesse broke the silence, "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I don't remember what happened last night..." Jesse looked away, ashamed.

Cassidy examined Jesse a little closer, wondering how much he should tell him right out of the gate. "Ok well… let's start small, shall we? What's the las' thing you remember doing last night?" he prompted. Jesse frowned and thought back, "I was in bed. You were late coming back and I had a meeting in the morning so I went to sleep. I heard something downstairs so I called out thinking it was you. But no one answered so I went downstairs," Jesse swallowed a lump in his throat, "I remember feeling like I had a bad stitch in my side but then nothing." Cassidy saw the frustration on Jesse's face, 'So, he doesn't even remember getting stabbed. What am I gonna do with him? I have to get us out of here.' Cassidy was also aware of the closeness of their bodies, Jesse was still sitting on Cassidy and pinning him to the floor.

Jesse turned his head to look at Cassidy in full, his brown eyes were focused on Cassidy's neck and he was beginning to lean a little closer. "Hey Cass, you have no pulse. Did you know that?" Jesse's mouth was hovering above a sensitive spot on Cassidy's neck that he'd rather not have bitten at that moment but he didn't move away. It'd be better for Jesse to figure this out on his own. Jesse spoke again in a low voice, "Why am I so thirsty, Cassidy? I can't move and you smell good." Cassidy's head was turned for him by Jesse's hand, further exposing his neck. He had no pulse but poor Jesse was in the throes of his hunger and could smell the blood in Cassidy's system. He tried not to wince when Jesse bit down and held himself still while Jesse drank. He dug his fingers into Jesse's hip and groaned which broke the spell over the preacher. Jesse was up and across the room in a fraction of a second, panting hard and leaning against the pillar. "Jesus. Cassidy, what happened?" Cassidy watched him scrape at his face in an attempt to remove the blood there. He covered the wound with a hand and stood up himself and leveled another hard stare at Jesse. "You died last night, padre. You asked me to save you. I did."

It was Cassidy's turn to look away. When he had died, they had been fighting a civil war. He had come to terms with dying and embraced it. Jesse was the type that liked the sun and living and Cassidy wasn't sure how this was going to go. The man had been dying and people become desperate when faced with their own mortality. He stood still and observed Jesse who was still leaning on the pillar and facing away from him. A few minutes passed and Jesse heaved a sigh before turning back to Cassidy then turning and going to the kitchen. Cassidy heard the door of the fridge open and a bottle cap hitting the counter a moment later. He peaked around the corner in time to see Jesse finish his beer, stare at the bottle and then fling it against the wall. He saw Jesse's heaving breaths, his fists were clenched tight enough for the nails to cut into his skin. It passed quickly and Jesse regained his composure and grabbed several more bottles out of the fridge and turned to face Cassidy, "Let's get out of here. We can make it to Dallas before sunrise if we go now."

Cassidy nodded and set to work, throwing the blanket at Jesse to take out to the car and began pouring gasoline around the body of the hunter. He snatched the keys to the church van, it'd be easy to pass it off as he stole the van. He lit the cigarette in the now swollen fingers of the dead hunter and shoved the body over. The flames were licking the dry pews as Cassidy closed the doors and the rest was burning before they pulled out of the drive.


End file.
